London-Queens and Things

Third day in London and still more to see than time to see it. We started with the changing of the guard at Buckingham Palace. We were running late, but we still watched most of it. There is plenty of pomp and some unexpected music.  

The palace: 

Queen Victoria statue: 

The skies were blue and the weather nice so we walked over to Big Ben 

and Westminster Abbey. 

You can't take pictures inside the Abbey but you can take one of the oldest door in London. 

And pictures were allowed in this area of stained glass. The pictures didn't turn out very well. 

One last shot of Westminster. The Abbey dates back to 1066 too. Isn't that something? 

 There is a picture opportunity every second. These buildings are amazing. 

This could very well be Parliament.

Notice the London Eye behind me. We have gotten soft and cheap in our old age. None of us were really brave enough to ride up that high and pay 18 pounds to do it. 18 pounds doesn't sound like a lot but the exchange rate is terrible-it's almost $29. 

  I know you are drawn to the guy in the purple sweater, but that's me in Chinatown. It's not very big, but I took a photo for Noah. He is a big fan of Chinatowns. Also, note the Queen's picture in the center of the flag. It is the jubilee year after all.  We came here to try some Chinese confections. They were weird but kind of good. Mostly weird. 

The rest of this day is a little bit of a blur. We ended up at one of the circuses but I can't remember if it was Piccadilly or Oxford. Here's a photo. Don't you love this city? I was in search of a guitar strap for Matt. I found one at a cool guitar shop near Abbey Road. It has a Union Jack pattern and is made in the USA. Oh, the irony. 

We also spent a little time in the British Museum where we saw THE Rosetta Stone. No photos but it really happened,

 It is super easy to get around London using the Underground. We only made one mistake at the Cannon Street station, but it was easily corrected. 

Our last adventure of the night was the Jack the Ripper walking tour.  We covered a lot of ground in London exploring the scenes of some really gruesome (and unsolved) murders. I was unfamiliar with Jack the Ripper and maybe now I know too much. We were afraid we'd be freaked out walking home from the train that night, but we managed. We are brave world travelers after all.